Expats Guide for moving to Berlin
If your dream is about moving to Berlin well you probably are not alone in this. Of the city’s 3.5 million about one-third of them have migrated or come from families who did. There have always been reasons to move to the capital of Germany since it has had incomparable culture, an excellent standard of living and now recently its startup and technology advances. Also, the city has healthy tourism, creative, and education and research sectors. Berlin gets about 135 million day-visitors every year. During the summer there are lots of places to enjoy the sun outdoors, while in winter, there are lots of museums to visit and Christmas markets to enjoy. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of Berlin before making a huge life decision.
Pros of moving to Berlin
Job Market. The unemployment rate in Berlin is the second largest in the whole country. It’s no secret that there is a lot of work available for professionals and also new startups seem to start every day. The city is the center of talent and innovation and surely they welcome anyone that has valuable knowledge and is a hard worker. The manufacturing industry is not behind either and they are responsible for a lot of jobs. They work together with the numerous startups and help the city keep a high technology index.
Cost of Living. Researchers who have valued the cities of Europe have put Berlin ranked at Nr.91 out 233 for the Cost of living Index. What we get from this survey it’s that Berlin it’s relatively affordable compared to other cities and that doesn’t mean a lower standard of living.
Public Transportation. The section of public transportation is really advanced here, bus, train, tram wherever you want to go there is a way of transport. They are well maintained and really efficient ways of moving around. However, having a personal car is not frowned upon here but be careful of what regulations and insurance you should have in order to do that.
Cons of moving to Berlin
Sunday Shop Closes. Most shops are closed on Sundays in the city, which for most would be really annoying. You can possibly find some small shops open inside train stations and there are always pharmacies open.
Cash Payments. Even though the cashless payments overtook cash in 2019 there are still a lot of businesses that only accept cash. Having the luxury of debit or credit cards taken away from you is for some people a dealbreaker since you are required to hold Cash in your wallet.
Unreliable and Slow Internet. Even though we mentioned before that the city has a flourishing startup and technology community it’s difficult to find a reliable and fast internet provider. This is important for businesses and yet there are not a lot of premium options so most of the companies are bound to have workers work remotely. This works really well with the times that we are experiencing right now in the world however this issue needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
